British Shetland Pony Gives Birth to Zebra

The owners of Tilly the Shetland pony
received a double shock when she gave birth. They didn't know she
was pregnant — and they certainly weren't expecting a zebra.

Tilly's owners at Eden Ostrich World, a modest visitor
attraction on a farm near Penrith in northwestern England, had been
unaware of the pony's exotic past life at a wildlife park, where
she shared a field with a male zebra.

"She was fairly fat when we received her and we thought that
she was getting fatter," Ostrich World manager Karen Peet said
today.

"It really was a bit of a shock when we got up one morning and
we saw the foal that was there."

The striped half-Shetland, half-zebra foal — dubbed a
"zetland" or a "shebra" but as yet unnamed — has flourished
since her birth a week ago, and Peet said visitors would be able to
view her beginning Monday.

Naming Contest

The farm plans to hold a competition to
name the creature, which has black-and-tan stripes and a zebra's
distinctive large head.

Veterinarians say such a foal is rare, but not unknown. British
zoos have reported the birth of several "zeedonks" — offspring of
a zebra and a donkey — over the years.

"Ponies and zebras very rarely share the same environment even
in the wild. A meeting between the two is very rare in the natural
environment," said Lesley Barwise-Munro, spokeswoman for the
British Equine Veterinary Association.

"If the zebra is the father and the horse is the mother there
is no reason why a normal fertilization and a pregnancy should not
take place," she added. "But the offspring is unlikely to be
fertile."